Monthly Archives: April 2013

Post navigation

“Cast your cares on the Lord, for He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall”

Psalm 55:22

Have you ever wondered who the “righteous” were? I have, and that word scared me!

lol

The righteous are us! Those of us who have accepted Jesus death on the cross for our sins. Our debt has been paid. We are free! We are righteous in God’s eyes.

We are right in God’s eyes!

Dear Heavenly Father, I need to come before you this new day and cast my worries, fears and plans at your feet. I pray, Dear Lord, for your guidance and direction as I lay my heart out before you, and I take a few minutes to meditate on You, Your love and goodness… I sense your grace and peace filling me with Your rest, and I thank You.

Did you get a chance to read the Beatitudes? If not, I pray you will… they will comfort and refresh your heart :)

Matthew 5 1-12

Dear Heavenly Father, I love You!

Thank you for Your constant comfort and hope in my life…No matter what is going on you are my rock and refuge… my place of safety, and I so dwell on that truth…I can’t imagine how desperate I would feel, if my comfort was in myself or my own understanding…

How I praise and need You.

As we come before you today, Lord, thank you for your cleansing power in our lives, and for your great forgiveness and hope. Please open our hearts and minds as we seek to give you more of our hearts, and live a life of beauty in Your eyes..

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Can you imaginethe moment Jesus stopped?

There she lay… healed! The crowd rushing by her, it’s noisy, dirt and dust flying from everyone’s feet…

Her heart pounding, thoughts racing…

This image so takes me back every time. As, I put myself in this sweet woman’s place, I feel like, Him stopping, was the last thing she expected..

He not only stopped, He called her out!

The Bible says that Jesus was on His way to heal a dying girl. To me that is huge! I guess that’s why, in my heart, I am so struck by Him stopping. He must have been in a hurry. He had some place to be, and to me, someplace pretty important. He was on His way to heal a dying girl. Somewhere in the back of my head, I had heard someone say, and Maybe, you have too, that God has way more important things to do then deal with my problems. It’s funny how things we have “heard” about God can cause us to just expect the worst, right?!

Why did He stop? In the middle of that huge crowd, anyone could have touched Him!

But He did stop..

And that surprised me more than I can express! I feel like the moment He stopped, she must have been scared to death! I thought, without a doubt, He was going to be mad.. I wonder if she thought that too? Shame, fear, rejection… felt so normal..

He definitely wasn’t mad..

In Fact;

He was very aware of her pain, He knew the exact moment she reached out and touched Him, because the moment she touched Him..

“His power was released..”

Mark 5:30

How amazing is that? She reached out. He released His power… no explanation.. no reasoning!

What are you going through in your heart and life that may have you exhausted! You have reasoned, explained, rationalized all of the scenarios out in your head a million times?

Maybe you too are fearful, tired, and don’t know what to expect.

All she did was reach out..

All you have to do is reach out!

In our brokenness, in our pain, and uncertainty… He is on our side..

When Jesus stopped, He made a ginormous statement to all of those watching.

Jairus, whose daughter was dying, the disciples, who were in a hurry, the crowd that was pressing in, and most importantly to this sweet woman who was in so much pain…

As I see it, He didn’t want her to just disappear. To think that maybe it was an accident that He healed her. He didn’t want her to question whether or not she deserved it. He didn’t want the crowd to be able to gossip later about her. He showed the disciples, yet again, He was there for people who needed Him, not those who think they can help themselves… who think they don’t need God.

Dear Father, How I thank you that I don’t have to do my life alone..I know I need You and I want You in every bit of my being..

Matthew 9:12

“…Jesus said, It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick…I desire mercy not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners..”

Oh, Lord, I am a sinner, and I thank you for your beautiful mercy..

He most definitely didn’t want her to carry all of those feelings of fear, sadness… hopelessness, or regret any longer!

He wanted her to know He sees her, and He cares deeply for her

And with all of that said;

He sees YOU, and He cares deeply for YOU

Today, bask in the truth that God sees You, loves you, adores you.. He is your Heavenly Father that protects, comforts and hides you under His wing.

Psalm 91: 1-2

Yes, we fail. Yes, we sin. Yes we (most of the time ) don’t know what we are doing..

This sweet, alone woman, certainly didn’t know what she was doing. She “selfishly” sought after him, even though she was thought to be “unclean”, and being around others could have jeopardized their relationship with God.. That didn’t stop her!

She needed Him

I need Him…

Take refuge in the fact that you matter to God. We have a God who stops to listen.

It is a beautiful truth that we can always, no matter what time, day or night, go to God..

People can’t be there for us 24 hours a day, people will let us down.. we are not perfect.

But God’s love is perfect;

He is always near, and always fighting for our heart!

He could have kept going, He did not have to stop. He didn’t. And He doesn’t today!

Will you let God in?

Dear Heavenly Father, Wow! You amaze me every single day. Today I am struck by your kindness. That you are never too busy for me. You took the time to stop for this sweet woman, in the middle of a crowd, on Your way to heal a dying girl… Oh, Lord, you stopped and You listened, and You loved.

I give you my day, my heart and my life. How I ask you, Father, to help me to be in constant communication with you throughout my day. To know that You are near because you want to be.. because You are my redeemer and friend!

“Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare of the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; He is my God, and I am trusting Him..”

Oh Lord, how I thirst for You… You are my refuge, and my place of safety. Praising Your beauty.. thank you for drawing my heart into your courts, and filling me with your peace that surpasses all understanding..

As I seek to understand selfish gain, pride seems to be the number one enemy.. cleanse me, Father, that I will look away from things that are worthless and cause so much destruction, and help me to put my eyes on You.

Your beauty, Amazing goodness and hope..

Praising You for always drawing my heart from the darkness and straight into the light..

Dear Heavenly Father, How I need you to draw me into your presence… cleanse me from the inside out…” Search me Oh God, and know my heart test me and know my thoughts.. point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”

Dear Heavenly Father, Good morning, thank you for a fresh new day. As I come before you this morning, I am so thankful that I can seek you in all that I am. The good, the bad, and the ugly. As I come into your courts this morning, I am praying for your great hope and forgiveness to cleanse and refresh my heart. It’s so exciting to know that you are taking down the walls I have built up around my heart, and replacing them with your open arms..

I love you, Jesus

Amen

After spending everything she had, exhausted, and beaten by this sickness, there she stood. In the presence of all she hoped for;

Freedom

Is God calling you to lay it all at His feet? Have you heard Him say,

“Who touched me..?”

No?

It can be so super easy to just accept that you’ve sinned, or that you messed up, and move past it..

But….

Sometimes, “the reaching” out can be the hardest part!

When I think of this day, the day she decidedly sought after Him, I wonder what she must have known about Jesus? What made her seek him out, even to the point of making those who were around her ceremonial unclean? That was a huge risk. She sought Him out against all odds…

AsI recall this day, the day I too “decidedly” sought after Jesus. I can remember waking up that morning, bringing my kids to school, coming home, and just needing to feel close to God. I don’t think there was anything particular on my mind, I just had this feeling of emptiness… I can remember opening my Bible, and knowing that whenever I had looked for Him, He was always there. While I didn’t know what I was looking for, He did. Looking back, I know it wasn’t by chance that I came upon this story. He knew me better than I knew, and know, myself.

And

He knows you, better than you know yourself..

He knew that, I too, had spent all that I had… Maybe I didn’t understand it, but I was desperate…It came upon me as an emptiness. A quiet aloneness. I had known enough about God to believe and want to be close to Him. I knew that He loved big, forgave sins, cut down the pride of the Pharisees who were ‘religious”, and drew the poor in spirit into His presence..

I knew I wasn’t religious, quite the opposite, I was poor in spirit…

So I opened my Bible

And just like this sweet woman, I made a conscious effort, I was going to reach out to Him. I didn’t know what He was going to say to me, I didn’t know if I was going to feel condemned, unworthy, or afraid of what I might learn… but I can tell you this… all of those feelings totally crossed my mind! Can you relate to that at all? Have you, in a time of quietness, felt God’s tender nudge to draw to Him? Does it scare you to think that if you do, He may want more from you than you can give? Has the thought crossed your mind that you aren’t good enough to come before Jesus, you need to maybe “get it together” before you do?

When I think of this woman, and all that she had to lose, she went for it! She had already tried everything else, she was already alone, shunned, and living a lonely existence…This could have gone bad in so many ways, right?!

But there was Jesus. Meeting her, and meeting me. Right in the middle of our pain, who knew!

What is your pain? heartache? fear? regret? failure? hurt? emptiness?

That’s where He wants to meet you..

Did you take the time to lay it out? All of it?

I soo hope so!

Today, in the middle of this woman’s story, let stop. I would like to encourage you to open your Bible… maybe for the first time, or even the first time in a long, long time. Even if you read your Bible daily, the Beatitudes will comfort, refresh and inspire you to live a life of freedom and hope.

Matthew 5: 1-12

As you are reading, I pray will you let God near.. invite Him to sit with you, and help you to know that He is near, drawing you to Himself and refreshing your heart, mind and soul..

He wants you to know that Blessed are the poor in Spirit…

Yes, you are Blessed…

He wants you to be free. To live a life of passion, hope and beauty…

So today after you reach out, and you hear Him say, “Who touched me?..”

You will be able to say,

“I did!..”

He has a new beginning for you…

Are you ready?

Heavenly Father, there are no words that I can think of to explain how your love penetrates my heart. it’s beautiful, and I thank you so much. Please open our hearts to your forgiveness as we release our failures and sin knowing that we are forgiven, and loved. We are beautiful in your eyes today, tomorrow and forever. You make all things new, and we are sealed forever in your blood. Oh, Lord encourage our hearts to know that we have been set

Then Jesus told this story to some who had great self -confidence and scorned everyone else;

“Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a dishonest tax collector. The proud Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer:

” I thank You, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else, especially like that tax collector over there! For I never cheat, I don’t sin, I don’t commit adultery, I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.”

But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying….

“O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.”

I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For the proud will be humbled, but the humble will be honored..

I love this picture of truth and hope… As I was having my quiet time this morning, this story really struck a cord with me… How I need to be reminded that I am loved just as I am… right where I am..I will never get it all figured out, but I will always have my God..

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for your constant gentleness and love… You are the perfect picture of pureness and hope… I so love your beauty. Thank you for your forgiveness every single day.. thank you for refreshing my heart that I don’t need to be perfect, or even close to that.. I am a sinner saved by your grace! Yaay God… You are the best..

Good Morning. As we come before you this new day, I am praying for your love and gentleness to ease my burdened heart.. Help me to surrender my thoughts and heartbreak in exchange for what is pure and lovely Phil 4:8, and that is You. Your thoughts towards me are pure, full of love, and compassion, and so so lovely because I know You see the beauty in me that I just can’t… Cleanse me, Jesus, and fill me with more of You and less of me…

Trusting in You with all of my heart,

Amen.

He was waiting….

As we pick up from day 2, we were picturing this woman, so completely vulnerable. She is in the middle of this huge crowd. Alone. Trembling with fear. Silence so must have engulfed her mind and heart. There she was, laying there, trying to process…. and desperately accept what had just happened…

The bleeding. Had. Stopped!

Then…

As if being abruptly woken up from a beautiful dream, she hears a voice.. someone saying;

“Who touched Me?”

Oh, I hope you were able to take a few minutes and process how this makes you feel?

I know I did, and I was super scared! I don’t think I could remember a time when confrontation was ever a good thing!

So, as I sat there.. fear and trembling consumed my heart and mind… I was so sorry for her because I just knew how much she needed Him… but He didn’t know her…

My heart was broken for her as feelings of my own sin, failure, and ugliness started to consume my heart..

You see I have sinned, betrayed close friends, been betrayed by close friends, been hurt deeply by family, and have hurt my family deeply… there had been times when I have been overwhelmed and consumed by worry, times when I let my past haunt me, and times when I could not imagine why God would truly love me.

At lease not the real me…

What was she going to do? He was waiting… she knew He was looking for her…

What was she going to do?

I was paralyzed!

“Who Touched Me?”

There she was. Big girl style…..stepping out of the crowd;

“She fell at his feet.. trembling with fear”

Whoa!

I know for me, that that was the first time I had ever just pictured myself coming clean..

Here I am, Lord, all of me…

Yep!

All of me, my heart, my sin, my ugliness..

All of me..

As I sat there crying, feeling every single sting of past regrets, hurts.. failures the walls started falling, I couldn’t believe I was starting to feel safe!

Complete surrender.. A white flag being held high!

No more hiding, no more searching… there she was, there I was. Completely vulnerable..

Done!

What is Jesus going to do? This is where the turf meets the surf so to speak…

In our pain, it seems that we always have a choice. Do we enter His Courts or do we run like the wind?

Scary, right!

”She came and fell at His feet, trembling with fear,

and told Him the whole truth.”

When you look

at your experiences, things that have caused you so much pain, fear

or rejection can you say that you have literally or spiritually

fallen

at God’s feet…and told Him the whole truth?

Sin cuts us like a knife, penetrating our hearts like a gun shot straight into our very souls.. right at the heart of who we are.. wish we were, or thought we were.

Question of the day;

Is there something you are holding on to, something that nags at you, something that you wont even let yourself think about because it hurts too much? Maybe a secret, or burden you have been carrying for such a long time. Maybe, like this woman, you have gone to anyone and everyone for help. You have emotionally spent all that you have trying to escape, maybe you have turned to guys, drinking… anything. You are tired. The fear of rejection, or feeling of failure hurts so much that maybe it’s just way easier to fill your heart with anyone or anything. Does your heart feel so hardened and weary that your lifestyle just feels natural?

Oh Sweet Friend, it’s so time to get rid of it!

God is longing for you to trust Him, to come before him, and tell Him the whole truth…

Are you ready?

Today, as we close in prayer, it is my prayer that you would, like this woman, reach out to Jesus. To seek Him in the mist of all the commotion in your life… and then stand before Him even it it’s with fear and trembling….

“For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back from captivity..”

Jeremiah 29:11-14

You don’t have to be stuck anymore!

Dear Jesus, I am praying for my sweet sister. I know how terrifying this feeling is.. to give up complete control of who we are.. to stop the running. To stop filling our lives with people, things and stuff, and just come before You, empty-handed, broken and afraid. Thank you so much for never letting us go, always drawing us to You, and always wanting our lives to be free of the past.. free of strife and free to live our lives wholly and beautifully in your presence..

Dear Heavenly Father, How I need you to draw me into your presence… cleanse me from the inside out…” Search me Oh God, and know my heart test me and know my thoughts.. point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”

Psalm 139: 23-24

Thank you again for showing me what a woman after your own heart looks like. Please open my eyes, and heart to the places in my life that aren’t filled with You, Your grace, Your hope and Your peace.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Come with me, sweet friend; let’s walk in this woman’s steps!

Mark 5;28

…If I can only just touch His clothes…

Pushing her way through the crowds of people, she sees Him.

She is focused.. her eyes watching His every move…She is crawling through the thick crowd, dirty, tired… she knows she shouldn’t even be there.. she is being pushed and shoved.. She sees her chance.. She is so desperate, exhausted. Stretching out her arm, she opens her hand…. holding her breath, she is so desperately hoping to feel His robe.. His anything…

she reeeaches for him….

And in a Nano Second….

Bam! It happened!!

She touched him. Her bleeding immediately

stopped. There she stood….Alone, amazed, and still…

quietly processing what just happened.

Jesus, walking rather quickly,

His robe flowing behind him, moving freely with each step,

out of nowhere, He stops! His disciples walked another few

steps before realizing Jesus stopped, they turn around to see what He

was doing… it’s dusty, noisy, and crowded. They are thinking, “What

is He doing? We need to get him out of here!” At that moment, in the midst of all the noise, and commotion…

Jesus asks,

“Who touched me?

His eyes searching the crowd. The woman, trying to disappear,

knows exactly why He stopped! Her heart must have skipped a

beat. So many voices, so many people, yet she can clearly hear Jesus and His friends talking amongst themselves, her heart pounding…. She hears one of them say;

“Jesus, you see the crowd of people crowding

against you, and yet you ask who touched me?”

She sees Jesus visually looking into the crowd. She sees His

eyes roaming, He is looking for the person who touched Him…..His

eyes piercing, looking. She realizes He is not going to just walk

away; He wants to SEE who touched Him!

She looks down, thoughts racing… so much fear,

Is he going to embarrass me?

She thinks to herself, or judges me, or worse, is He mad that I

touched Him without asking Him…..will He take back the healing she

knows just took place?

She has been rejected so many times, nothing good has come

her way for so long…..doctor’s taking her money, and leaving her empty

handed, heartbroken and alienated…. Despair, loneliness, and

rejection was all too familiar. So with a deep breath and sigh, she

looks up to see His eyes looking right at hers, piercing her soul… There

was no other choice, she knew she had to come forward. He was

waiting!

Food for Thought:

Can you picture a time when you may have felt this desperate?

What feelings are stirring in you as you read these words… fear? entitlement? worthy? unworthiness? judgment?

As you picture yourself being the one just standing there… alone… being called out.. How does that feel? What emotions does that stir in your heart, mind…? What does that look like to you?

If you can take the time to write your thoughts down, process and reread the whole story again, that would be great and we will pick it up from here tomorrow :)

Dear, Heavenly Father,

How I pray for You to Create in me a pure heart.. that I might know You more..

When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, He fell at his feet.He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.”So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years.She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought,

“If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”

Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked,

“Who touched my clothes?”

“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ” But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

Will you pray with me…

Dear Heavenly Father, how amazing You are. Thank you for showing us what a woman after your own heart looks like. That when we lay down the walls, and seek after You, especially when we are bleeding, You will make us a priority.. I know first hand what it feels like to not want to bother anyone with my pain or problems, and to find out I don’t have to, I can come straight into your presence and give You all of me.. all of my pain, and You will be there with open arms and words of hope! Oh how beautifully freeing that is.. May your grace and comfort touch us as we walk with this sweet friend hand in hand.. Praying for your love to penetrate the hardened places of our hearts and lives as we seek to be beautiful in Your eyes, and Your eyes alone..

In the Name of our precious Savior we pray,

Amen

It is interesting to read what the New Living Bible commentary has to say about this woman…

”While we do not know the exact nature of her illness, we do know that she was subject to bleeding for twelve years, and her existence must have been wretched because she would have been shunned by people, since anyone having contact with would have made ceremonially unclean.”

Lev 15:25-33

How wretched that must have been indeed!

This is such a sad picture, isn’t it?

She was already shunned and isolated because of her illness, and on top of that, she would be responsible for making others ceremonially unclean if she had contact with them, and to that add guilt!

What a HUGE burden to bear, Right!

In her deepest need, she had no one who would, or even wanted to reach out to her.The loneliness alone would be cause enough for so much pain, but the truth was she was bleeding, and desperate…. She spent all of “What she had” on doctors…..no one could help her.She was unclean, alone, and literally bleeding!

I can remember the day this woman’s story jumped off the pages, and my heart was so broken for her.

As I sat there, alone, in my bedroom, reading about her story, her pain……I was thinking, oh, how lonely she must have been, how desperate… Her pain tugged at my heart until I finally realized that I was her! I could relate to her desperation…. She had been struggling for 12 long years, going from doctor to doctor seeking help, putting all of her hope and money into everyone and everything offered, spending everything she had to get better, to find relief…

While I was not bleeding, physically, I was bleeding.

I was bleeding from a broken and weary heart.I was hurting, and grieving over past decisions, and failures….things I couldn’t change even if I wanted to.At this time in my live I was 30 years old, and had excitedly accepted Jesus into my heart and life just 5 short years prior. As I sat there reading, something in me started to awaken. Believing that God loved me, and cared about me, I had begun to live my life not realizing that God actually knew me…. This truth became a reality to me as I visualized Jesus eyes…I pictured Him looking around the crowd.His eyes adamant, and intent, searching; as He asks,

“Who touched my clothes?”

I sat there paralyzed, my thoughts started racing, remembering that Jesus was on his way to heal a sick girl, and thinking to myself, he must have been in a hurry…..Now he is stopping, was He angry?I found myself shrinking back in my chair just knowing this wasn’t going to end well!

Then the disciples say to Jesus,

“You see the people crowding against you, and yet you ask, “Who touched me?”

…Oh, man!

There you have it, even the disciples are annoyed! This is definitely not going to end well!

But that’s not what happened at all…..

His eyes meet mine. I am full of fear, exhaustion.I am broken hearted and ready for another failure.

All I can say is that I have never, ever, in my whole life been struck, and then pierced by eyes being so full of such deep compassion…He was drawing my fearful and empty heart into His presence…There was no one else there….I was covered by the most precious loving kindness I had ever experienced.

Are you ready to surrender your heart, your agenda, and your motives in exchange for something that is real and good?

You are known by God.

Can you imagine, for just one moment, that the God of this whole universe, cares about what is going on in your life? It wasn’t until this moment that I truly realized I was not alone, and I did not have to suffer alone. It was surprising to discover that even though I had let God into my heart, I was keeping Him at arm’s length, I truly didn’t understand that When I reached out to Him, He already knew everything about me, and had been waiting for this moment… The moment I discovered that I was holding on to so much pain..

Dear Friend,

YOU don’t have to suffer alone…

Day 1, Question;

Have you ever invited Jesus into your Heart, or life? If yes, this would be a great time to write out all of the details about your experience that you can remember..

How did you hear about Jesus? Where were you when you accepted Him as Your Savior? What has changed in your life since you met Him? What was important to you before you accepted Him into your life? Have those things changed? What is important to you now?

If the answer is no, I haven’t invited Jesus into my heart, maybe ask yourself, why Haven’t you?Is there something you are afraid of? You don’t agree with? Do you feel unworthy? Or maybe you just need more information on what that even means…

Please take your time, and answer these questions.The answers will help you so much as we explore what it looks like to live a life beautiful, free and dependent on who God is, and who you are in His eyes. Beautiful, loved, and the daughter of the king most high…

Heavenly Father, Thank you for this time, and for my new friend. Please, will you help us to break down walls, thoughts, and feelings that keep us from letting you know and have all of us.. all of our hearts, minds and souls. We love you, Jesus,

In Your name we pray,

Amen

Food for thought;

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.”